We are a fast-moving consulting firm that helps companies, industries and
countries better compete in the global marketplace. Our work focuses on
research-based strategy matching client capabilities with market needs thereby
matching what you can do with what the customer is looking for. It's a logical
and winning combination.

How often do we make decisions based on our own internal beliefs only to find
that the market never felt that way at all? As the old phrase goes, we simply fail
to see the forest for the trees... time and time again. The Corporate Myopia Blog
explores situations that may have gone better had someone stopped to ask what
the long-term vision, mission or strategy is and whether current events really are
valid to long-term direction.

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Posts tagged with Predictive Analytics

FutureShift is a data-driven strategic and brand planning company, which uses its proprietary software to develop databases and customer feedback that enables direct communication to any user defined segment.

If you’re like most people in business today, you’re probably talking about “Big Data” and what it can do for you. One can hardly scan the business section of any newspaper or magazine without reading about it.

On April 15th NY Times, columnist David Brooks wrote an excellent article about the limits of Big Data. It’s titled, “What You’ll Do Next”. It was of interest to me because we offer large-scale, qualitative customer intelligence to our clients with the ability to instantaneously email people who share a distinct set of differences.

Let me explain because it’s really quite simple.

The purpose of research or recording data (quantitative or qualitative) is not to tell you what people have in common but what drives them apart. If in your marketing, you find the common denominator between all your customers and then deliver them a message that addresses that commonality, you’re actually speaking to no one. You haven’t addressed any particular interest that anybody has that might indicate that you understand their specific needs.

This is why we use (or build) your database to tell you how your customers are different from each other and how they want that difference to be addressed. As Brooks points out, “People are discontinuous…the passing of time can produce gigantic and unpredictable changes in taste and behavior, changes that are poorly anticipated by looking at patterns of data on what just happened.” Nothing could be truer in marketing today.

One of the problems with Big Data is that it is essentially a rear-view mirror. It looks for past patterns of preferences based on purchases or contacts and assumes their patterns will tell you how they will act in the future. Brooks quotes the Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier book, “Big Data,” noting “this movement asks us to move from causation to correlation.” But he writes, “Correlations are actually not all that clear. A zillion things can correlate with each other depending on how you structure the data and what you compare.”

We’ve all probably experienced this when buying products ranging from books to vacuum cleaners from Amazon. You’ve surely seen, their notations that people who bought these books, also bought these. What they’re doing is simply taking your history of book buying, comparing it to others with similar lists and laying what those people bought next onto your page. In other words, past history from people like you equals future purchase probability and with enough purchase data, there may be some accuracy in that prediction. However, Amazon can’t know that last week I had no interest in buying books about terrorism and this week, sadly due to the events in Boston, I do. Until I make my purchase, but then all kinds of things can intercede with my buying decision. There are just too many potential disruptions to patterns of purchases to be good predictor of future behavior.

We’ve created a forward-looking mirror called DirectLink™ We ask your customers “what if” and “why” questions. We capture their words and then quantify their ideas, perceptions and motivations. Then, we give you the ability to instantly segment them and download the email addresses of any segment you select.

With DirectLink™, you can immediately see what differentiates your customers, the words they use to describe their differences and their emails so you can you respond specifically to their unmet needs. Most purchases are motivated by either frustrations or the need to fulfill unmet needs. Big Data doesn’t engage customers to determine their frustrations or needs. DirectLink™ does. In doing so, you are directly engaging your customers to increase loyalty and ultimately, sales.

Learn how Futureshift would approach your marketing challenge or arrange for an online demo of DirectLink™ by calling 212-444-7192/7193 or email strategy@futureshiftnow.com

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Speed to Market

Stanford University Business School did a comparative study years ago on major factors that lead to a company's success. They studied an equal number of companies that had new business ideas. One group insisted on holding back until they felt they had perfected their product. The other felt their product was a little more than half ready but put it out to market early. The results a year later were startling. A significantly higher percentage of companies that went to market as soon as possible were well on their way to viability and profitability. Conversely, a significantly higher number of companies that thought they had perfected their product had failed or were heading in that direction. The reason? Immediate market feedback gave those companies that rushed to market the knowledge to better attune their products to market needs. The other companies had already used up their resources to apply to ongoing product improvement. Speed to market also applies to marketing campaigns. Quick to research, get feedback and adapt messaging makes for more successful campaigns. Velocity is a key factor in business success both for operations and marketing